PragerU Live: Jake Olson (4/20/17)

I hi everyone I'm Elicia Krauss here again at the prer uh with another Prager you Facebook live just for our awesome fans and uh listeners today I'm really excited to welcome Jake Olen he's a USC student athlete and a new presenter of this week's video on school choice that video is why special needs students want school choice Jake thank you so much for being here with us today thanks for having me I really appreciate it and thank you for making time to do the video I know some some people follow you uh or follow us on Instagram and they saw the behind the scenes videos and photos and you had to completely memorize your script that was really impressive well you know comes a lot easier when you're passionate about the subject so and and we it was a really great video so if people haven't seen it they should check it out on our Facebook page right now or after this interview more appropriately or it's still on the homepage at prageru.com as it came out on Monday so you mentioned in the video that the some of the public schools that you had access to Growing Up in Orange County are some of the best public schools in the country so did you look into attending one of those Public Schools before you decided to go private yeah we did um we looked I I uh both public high schools in Huntington Beach Huntington high and Edison were they're both they're both very good schools however after doing the assessment the IEP you know I was a high performing student in my middle school and you know I wanted to eventually take you know honors and AP courses and they straight up told us you know that there was you know they didn't have Personnel within the schools that were able to teach me you know upper division calculus or an upper division um chemistry whatever the courses were and so by that you know we started exploring the private schools and and for sure enough you know um Orange Lutheran was was totally willing to uh challenge me as as far as I wanted to go um academically in their school or did you feel more academically challenged and like your needs were met at at a private school versus the public school oh yeah yeah it was it was a world difference you know I took AP stats um I took you know honors honors uh math and AP Bio took honors medical genetics you know I finished with a 44 in high school so definitely um you know with with all the help and just the the support that they gave me you I was willing to challenge myself and take coures that I never thought I would so you wanted to be a football player from the time that you were about 12 years old which is when you lost um your second eye due to you know this retinal issue that you were born with so when your eyesight was gone how did you then train to become such a good enough football player that you are now a USC Trojan football player well you know I I love playing football when I was young and I always grew up a UFC Trojan fan and when you know I went blind um I was I was playing flag football just from my middle school and it you know it was nothing too serious um so I actually continued to play center for my flag football my eighth grade year even without sight but again you know it was it wasn't anything serious and when I went to high school I actually didn't play football just because I went to Orange Luther and we we're in a pretty tough division um and you know it was tackle football uh it was a lot more serious I didn't think there was really a position out there for me to play and after sitting in the stands for two years I I had I had enough um I wanted to get back on the field and dress on Friday nights and be be able to uh help my team in any way I could and so I came upon the long spping position um and noticed that really U it was muscle memory it was F and so the summer going into my junior year every day I went out with a coach and practiced and and started mastering the skill of long snapping and then sure enough when I came back my junior year uh I was the best Long Snapper on the team and earned a spot in Varsity that's awesome I've also heard a rumor that you're quite good at golf so when did you start golfing uh I golfed as a as a little kid as well um and actually was was pretty pretty good and that was um something I really wanted to continue as well you know there there is a you know blind Golf Association you know it's been uh blind golf is is is already a uh you know a thing out there so for me I wanted to continue to play golf and man it was it was tough you know I went from a 12-year-old is pretty good to to a 12-year-old that couldn't make contact and I started having to really practice and put in a lot of put put a lot of work in and you know the patience and the mental toughness I came with that um you know for any golfer let alone without say um so you know I started just really practicing and actually played Varsity in in high school as well for golf and you know I I still love to play golf and um you know I get out there anytime I can and you know um the the possibilities of playing tournaments later in my life is still open you know I I I continue to try to work on my skill um and you know eventually you know to to now I'm you know able to to shoot you know in the in the 70s and and so it's it's it's awesome to just see the hard work payoff out there well I am okay at mini golf but shooting in the 70s is better than I would ever do at a real game so I'm definitely impressed but so uh you mentioned earlier that part of the reason why memorizing the script you know wasn't that you didn't viewed as work or is that difficult is because this is an issue that you're very passionate about and for in your video mentions this week that for many special needs students in America there's Stu in a public school that just can't give them what they need educationally and you even pointed out the very good public schools that you had access to didn't have the people there that could help you you know exceed your educational you know potential so do you have any advice for those students or those parents well you know I always say um in life if there's a will there's a way and so you know for those kids um you know even though they're not in the perfect situation they have to have a will to to want to to uh excel in school and so just advocating for yourself going up to the teachers explaining okay you know I'm blind yeah this might not be the easiest thing for me this might not be uh the mo most straightforward way of doing things but I can do it so let's work on finding a way for me to do it let's work on you know communicating what you know what I can and cannot do and how to do it so that's my advice is to find a way to have that will and go find a way to advocate for yourself in those in those schools and then on a broader you know spect start finding you know and prager's done an awesome job here and you know that's why I'm part of it is is finding a way and having that will to to change legislation so that you know these kids aren't stuck in these schools that you know aren't aren't willing to support them in the way that they they want and challenge them in the way that they need so do you think that school choice can become a reality in the near future for most special needs students in the country today I hope so um and you know people like you and and and me and and everyone involved with this project I know there's a lot a lot of people out there um that once understanding it especially after seeing my video you know they they come to the kind of their sense and say you know this is really a broken system um you know these kids aren't benefiting in the way that we they need to be and you know education is such a um you know important issue in any society in any country and you know for America um you know it's especially important just for kids to to be educated right and and you know let's not leave the special needs students out of the out of the equation I absolutely agree with you there and just a reminder for everyone that's watching right now you should join the movement learn more about the school choice movement and take the pledge you can do that at school choic now.com Jake thank you so much for being with us if you haven't checked out his video once again you can check it out here on our Facebook page or go to prageru.com Jake Olsen student athlete at USC and our latest Prager you presenter of why special needs students want school choice thanks so much for being here with us today today thank you have a good one